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TSN Toronto Maple Leafs Reporter

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The Maple Leafs held a noon practice at MasterCard Centre. TSN's Kristen Shilton has more in her Wednesday notes.

The Maple Leafs’ power play has needed a shake up for some time. Now it’s finally getting one.

Toronto started the season scorching hot with the extra man, tallying nine goals in the team’s first seven games. But since Nov. 1, those units rank 15th overall in the NHL (18.5 per cent), with only 15 goals.

The power play has been anemic at best over the last 15 games, dating back to Dec. 4 at Buffalo, producing just five goals in 43 attempts (11.6 per cent) – and three of those goals came in a single game against the Florida Panthers.

On the heels of going 0-for-3 on the power play Monday against Nashville, coach Mike Babcock changed things up at Wednesday’s practice, moving Auston Matthews to the second group and Kasperi Kapanen to the top unit.

“It wasn’t going the way we wanted,” Babcock said of the alterations. “When you have a total of one group, you don’t have as much competition on your team. I still like when you have two and you compete to see who’s out there. We’re going to make a change here and see how it goes.”

Matthews and John Tavares currently lead the Leafs in power-play goals with seven, while Mitch Marner and Morgan Rielly are the top point-getters with 14 each. There appears to be ample talent available for those units to rebound. It’s a matter of execution now.

“[The coaching staff] probably wants to see some different results, some different looks and get us playing more efficiently on the power play,” Tavares said. “It’s a good opportunity for both units to take advantage of it and knowing we have two really strong groups that have a great skill set and can move the puck around.”

One of the Leafs’ most lethal man-advantage plays early in the season was a seam pass from Marner to Matthews that opposing penalty kills have become wise to and now often take away, which has made the power play predictable. Toronto has talked for weeks about making tweaks, but now the personnel rotation will force the issue.

“We’re working through the challenges we’re facing now and whatever adjustments teams make, we’d like to believe in our ability and our foundation,” Tavares said. “…We’re the one with one extra guy.”

But having the other team outnumbered hasn’t been as much of a coup for the Leafs of late as they’d like.

“You’ve got four penalty killers out there and they get paid to work hard,” Babcock said. “You have to outwork the penalty kill because if you don’t, you don’t score. Your scheme in everything you do is important and that frees up the players to be creative. Organization [is supposed to] give the good players more room.”

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William Nylander had hoped when he scored his first goal of the season on Jan. 3 it would get him started on a roll. So far that’s where his scoring production has started and ended.

In 14 games, the Leafs’ second-highest paid player has come up with three points total (one goal, two assists). After Monday’s 4-0 loss to the Nashville Predators, Babcock said the “urgency has to be there” for his winger.

Like everything else about his game, that is coming along slowly for Nylander. But he’s optimistic about the direction he's headed.

“I feel like I’m starting to get there, starting to get confident with the puck and being able to create stuff,” he said. “Starting to feel really good with the puck and all areas of the game are starting to feel better and better.”

Until the 22-year-old is back where he wants to be, avoiding his many critics has been the best policy.

“I haven’t been really paying attention to anything,” he said. “I just know what I’m capable of and I know that’s going to come. You’re going to have tough times, and especially now it’s tougher than others. Once the puck starts going in, it’ll keep going in.”

With Toronto having lost three of its last four, Babcock moved Nylander off Matthews’ line at Wednesday’s practice and on to Nazem Kadri’s unit with Patrick Marleau, the latter of whom has tried to connect with Nylander since his return from a lengthy contract negotiation in early December.

“I try to talk to him; I don’t know if I’m helping our not,” Marleau said. “But I think just telling him that I think he’s doing well. I think coaches are talking to him and he’s doing a lot of great things out there, so he’s just got to stick with it.”

Babcock’s advice to Nylander is even more succinct.

“I only know one way [to improve], and that’s work,” Babcock claimed. “When it’s going real good, you work hard every day because you want to keep it going good. When it’s not going good, you want to work real hard because you want to get it going. It’s simple: work.”

If Nylander needs any recommendations on how to avoid the negativity out there, Babcock has a few suggestions.

“When you decide you want to play here, you take the good with the bad and sometimes the bad is they’re pointing out what you’re doing,” he explained. “That’s what the country music channel and the hunting channel is for. Wild TV, 393, it’s dialled in. They never talk about hockey once.”

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The Leafs’ quest to become a heavier team will get a much-needed boost on Thursday when winger Zach Hyman steps back into the lineup after missing eight games with an ankle injury.

In fact, Hyman will be returning to the very scene of the crime: Prudential Center in New Jersey, where he went crashing uncomfortably into the boards on Dec. 18.

Less than a month later, that’s all ancient history. Hyman just wants to get out there again.

“I’m more excited [than anything], I’m not really worried about other stuff,” Hyman said.

As the team’s best forechecker and a premier penalty killer, Hyman’s brand of toughness will be well-received by a Leafs’ team criticized for being too easy to play against.

“It’s just the way I play – go into corners, battle and try to get the puck,” Hyman said. “Just part of my game.”

It may not amount to a pile of points at the end of the season, but Hyman’s presence is felt in ways his teammates feel is irreplaceable.

“He’s just got different kinds of skill,” Babcock said. “But his ability to get the puck back, get to the net, play with good players, play heavy, penalty kill, take right-hand faceoffs, I think those things are important for us. We missed him.”

“His consistency and predictability for us, and the trust you have with what he brings to the game, his contributions on a nightly basis, makes it easy for me and Mitch to do what we do,” Tavares said. “Great to have him back. I know he’s hungry to get back at it, and he’s an impact player for us.”

Meanwhile, goaltender Frederik Andersen (groin) won’t be available for Thursday’s game, but he said he’s eyeing a return on Saturday against Boston.

Babcock isn’t so sure.

“I don’t think Freddie will be going until Colorado [on Monday] from what I hear,” he said. “We’ll just see. He’s got to get ready and he’s got to be ready to stop the puck when you go in.”

The team will recall Kasimir Kaskisuo to backup Michael Hutchinson in New Jersey. 

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Maple Leafs lines at practice:

Hyman-Tavares-Marner

Johnsson-Matthews-Kapanen

Marleau-Kadri-Nylander

Lindholm-Gauthier-Brown

 

Rielly-Hainsey

Gardiner-Zaitsev

Dermott-Ozhiganov

Marincin-Holl

 

Andersen

Hutchinson

 

PP1: Matthews, Nylander, Marleau, Johnsson and Gardiner

PP2: Tavares, Marner, Kapanen, Kadri and Rielly